Five days traveling through temperatures that went from negatives to high positives
wasn't easy. Either it was blizzards or it was unbearable sun rays, and they
switched pretty often and never with any warnings at all. Food already ran out
and the seven friends' stomachs were rumbling like drums.
The biggest mountain of all was past and all that left was a few small hills
and maybe forest, but never having been this side of the Kontana Mountains before,
they had no idea. TrailMixed, Chelses, and Yamakarasu picked out a lot of berries
from the forest while the guys, Exlund, Gyka, Sahe, and Flamie_500, hunted for
wild animals. It was a grand festive compared to what they had the day before,
snow. They knew that the royal army were also heading for what they were heading
for, the Kontana Scroll, and didn't dare to idle.
Three days passed and they finally could see the light. To their great disappointment,
it was an endless sandy plain that stood before them. Exlund grumbled, "So this
is what we get after weeks of endless traveling?"
Gyka frowned, "The Village of Viemo is definitely real though, I can feel it
here in this desert. I can feel the power."
"Absolute trash," commented Flamie_500.
"How dare you!" said Yamakarasu angrily, "my sister Omobolasire never lies
and she said it was true. Gyka and TrailMixed think so too, so don't talk rubbish
about this."
Flamie_500 stared at her, "Erm, I thought you were the one against all this
saying about how its a myth and stuff. So why the sudden change?"
Yamakarasu didn't answer him, but continued saying, "Gyka, TrailMixed, you
said that the Village is hidden, right? Which is the obvious reason why we don't
see it before our eyes right now. Maybe we could, erm, try to find it somehow?"
TrailMixed bent down and examined the sand, "Yeth now do you remember how de
legendary poem goes? Aye, as dangers roam de land, de answers lie in de sand.
We should check ou' an' see if there's anything quite unusual 'bout dis sand.
Maybe it could give us all de answers..."
"OK, so how do we find the answers in the sand?" Sahe wanted to know.
"Dig and dig and dig till something happens?" suggested Gyka.
"Gosh, I feel like crying," grumbled Chelses, "digging for what we don't even
know what we are digging for is the last thing on earth I ever wanna do! This
is impossible!"
"We know how you feel," said Exlund gently, "but we must rescue our friends."
"You just want to save your friend," snapped Chelses.
"Chelses!" warned Yamakarasu.
"Sorry," Chelses lowered her head, "So let's do this."
They each took a shovel and started digging the sand at different positions.
Burrow didn't work because it just sprayed sand at everyone except the one actually
working the ability, so it was all manual work. The first day came out nothing
and everyone were extremely disappointed because it wasn't as easy as they had
hoped. This took time and effort, which some pets just couldn't cope with.
"I can't work," muttered Sahe, "my hands are numb and--and I'm just so very
tired."
"Take a rest," advised Flamie_500, "it'll be OK. No one will blame you."
"Naw, I'll keep going," said Sahe and he stabbed the shovel into the sand.
There was a ping; he had hit something hard. He quickly used his hands to brush
away the sand with Flamie_500's help. Everyone came over to see what he had
gotten excitedly and it appeared to be what look like a trap door. It was square
and had an old-fashioned silver handle with lots of fancy decorations in the
middle. Covering it were about a dozen carved in snakes surrounding the handle.
It didn't seem to be rust at all and seemed as good as new.
"Oh my, this could be the doorway," said Chelses bouncing around.
"Hm," Gyka and Exlund pulled at the silver handle. The door flew open and beneath
it seemed like a 10 inch squared box that lost its cover. Just when the NeoPets
were about to sigh/complain with disappointment, the ground rumbled slightly
and TrailMixed fell back catching Gyka's hand and stood straight. The sky went
completely dark as it seemed and in the far distance, there was a small light
in the air.
Something was spinning in the air and then it stopped spinning. There was a
small "pop" and a gray cloud appeared with something on the top.
"Confons," muttered Yamakarasu as that was what was written on the 'thing',
"Confons Manor? How does that sound so familiar? I don't know any Confons."
"Ooh that weird accented guy we met," said Exlund with recognition, "that's
what he said - to look for Confons."
"I don't trust that Digglers person," said Flamei_500.
"We'll just have to find out," said Gyka as the cloud landed before them. On
it seemed like some kind of hut that glowed in the mist of darkness.
The door opened and a man stepped out. He had small beady eyes and a long crooked
nose. His hair was silver and was flying wild. He was wearing a father Christmas
hat, but looked nothing like father Christmas He was cleanly shaven and wore
a light pink robe with frills on the necklines and the sleeves. It was something
between a modern business man, an old-fashioned grand father, and a man dressed
in women's clothes. Yes, it was very hard to understand the man and his styles.
The NeoPets dared not to step forward. The man however smiled and stepped forward
himself with his arms open, "Ah, you have called me? Confons, the greatest wizard
of all times!" His voice was high, but clear.
"Er..." no one really knew what to say.
Confons waved his hand and said, "Never mind, I know who you are."
The NeoPets stared at him in wonder. He continued, "I do have one of the Kontana
Scroll pieces..."
"Really? Can we have it?" asked TrailMixed eagerly.
Confons put away his grin and said quite solemnly, "This world will never be
filled with free things. It is a hard cruel world and you must battle for your
lives. This goes to mean that you must battle me first to earn your piece of
Kontana Scroll. Ah, I remember Kontana, a lively young fellow, giving the piece
to me. He of course knew that many people would look for his precious scrolls
and only wanted those strong and intelligent to receive the pieces."
"You knew Kontana?" asked Exlund.
"Exlund, Kontana is in our village," Gyka blinked, "he's still alive you know."
"Oh yeah, sorry," muttered Exlund, "it's just that everyone's talking about
him like he is a goner."
TrailMixed laughed, "Ah knows what you mean, but 'tis all right."
Confons did not smile. He looked at TrailMixed and said, "Don't make fun of
him. He is a very great friend and partner."
"It's all right Confons, I know him," spoke Gyka, "he's my half-brother. Now
you say we must fight you to get the piece? Can you explain that a little more
clearer with all the rules and stuff?" He thought, we could just have Yamakarasu
battle him since she probably will have a beggar chance in winning.
"Let's see, it has to be a Usul," said Confons lowering everyone's spirit by
an inch.
TrailMixed automatically stepped forward. Everyone watched her bow and accept
the challenge. Confons gave a sneer and waved his hand. His outfit quickly changed
into a black robe and his wild silver hair were clambered into a bun. He waved
his hand for TrailMixed to follow him into the glowing hut. As they disappeared
inside, Gyka whispered, "I don't like the way he looked at her."
"She's be all right," whispered Yamakarasu back, "she's a tough battler."
In less than two minutes, TrailMixed came out again and said, "Gyka, come in
with me... we can fight together, he said so."
Gyka followed her in to the hut which inside turned into a battle stadium and
the anxious friends waited outside. TrailMixed and Gyka listened to what Confons
told them to do. They all bowed down to each other, then Confons lifted his
wand to ready for the battle just as the two Usuls held onto their weapons.
TrailMixed raised her battle slices and shot them straight the wizard.
"Reflectitus!" bellowed Confons and the battles slices headed right at TrailMixed.
Gyka spun a shield into the air and the battle slices was stopped and TrailMixed
was able hold them still. TrailMixed breathed, this wasn't as easy as she thought.
Gyka flashed her a look and she knew that he wanted a division attack. Gyka
jumped left while TrailMixed went right. Gyka grabbed Confons' ears and TrailMixed
gave the wizard a punch at the side of the head.
Confons swerved off balance, but he pulled himself up quickly and pointed his
wand at Gyka bellowing, "Non armos!"
All of Gyka's equipment suddenly disappeared and then the wizard yelled, "Solidedum!"
as TrailMixed ran to his rescue and she was repelled off from Gyka from the
spell. Confons cried, "Tarritatus!" Gyka suddenly found his body bound to the
floor and his eyes were the only things moving as he looked with horror. TrailMixed
shot a Greater Staff of the Earth Faerie at the wizard while he was dealing
with Gyka and Confons staggered back.
With this, TrailMixed quickly swiped the battle slices at him again. Confons
took a full hit and fell on the floor. On fours, with wand still in hand, he
cried, "Finerisium!" TrailMixed was blasted back and as she tried to heal herself,
Confons took his last of energy and stood before TrailMixed with his wand pointing
at her. He bellowed,
"Safri -" His words fell and so did he. Behind him was Gyka who finally overcame
the body blind and knocked the wizard out. TrailMixed and Gyka grinned at each
as a piece of old cloth fell out of thin air. It the a piece of the Kontana
Scroll. Gyka hugged TrailMixed and said, "Great teamwork, it's what brings us
together."
"So is love," giggled TrailMixed.
They took the piece and went outside to tell their friends of the good news.
It was about time they caught hold of a Kontana Scroll piece, thought Exlund
grinning nonstop.
"All I see is sand, sand, sand," said Kikugoku steadily. The army had come
across the mountains and forest too by now and they too, suffered from hunger
and had to hunt in the forest. When they arrived on this side, there was no
village to be seen. Kikugoku gave the other two generals a look that said, "I
told you so" but Gotenks79 only waved his hand, "The legend says that the
answers are buried in the sand."
"Yes, I quite agree," said Pozialle though inside he was feeling disappointed
as Kiku, "erm, I guess we should start looking in the sand." With this, he ordered
the soldiers and knights to spread out and look for clues.
"Ridiculous thing to do," mumbled Kikugoku.
"Kiku," warned Pozialle.
The seven friends of the friendship hut were still wondering about the doorway
to Viemo when Flamie_500 suddenly said, "Why don't we look in that box thing
again? I mean, that's one way we found the first piece..." He peered inside
the box and then called out excitedly, "There's a lock in here! There's a lock
in here!"
Everyone ran forward to see. Gyka took out the Magical Key that Digglers had
given him and passed it to Sahe who hopped inside the box to insert the key
to the lock. As soon as Sahe turned the key, he was shot out of the box and
he flew and landed on the sand 10 feet away. A swirling light was coming from
the box and everyone moved back in case of danger. The light came out and continued
swirling. It was in rainbow color and somehow - somehow TrailMixed and Gyka
knew what to do.
TrailMixed and Gyka walked forward and stepped forward into the rainbow swirl.
A piece of old cloth appeared between them and they took it knowing that it
was another Kontana Scroll piece. They didn't know why, but they knew what to
do. The others watched them in awe and then stepped into the rainbow gateway
themselves. As they walked out, they realized that they were standing on a hill
top and chanting of, "Usul Usul Usul, Usul Usul Usul, Usul Usul Usul," could
be heard throughout the village below. They have arrived at the Village of Viemo.
To be continued... | 
